Covid “herd immunity” not an option

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned this Monday that “it is not an option” to let the new coronavirus circulate freely so that the population acquires herd immunity, as some have suggested.

“Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy to respond to an epidemic, much less a pandemic. It is scientifically and ethically problematic ”, declared the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a press conference.

“Letting go of a dangerous virus, about which we do not understand everything, is simply unethical. It is not an option, ”he insisted.

The new coronavirus pandemic has caused more than a million deaths in the world since the WHO office in China registered the appearance of the disease in late December.

According to the WHO, which cites various epidemiological studies, its fatality rate is approximately 0.6%.

“There is a strong increase in the mortality rate with age, but in general it is close to 0.6%. It may seem small, but it is much higher than for the flu, “said Maria Van Kerkhove, head of Covid-19 management at WHO.

“The vast majority of people in most countries can contract the virus. Seroprevalence research suggests that in most countries, less than 10% of the population was infected ”, detailed Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

He also explained that the world does not know much about the immunity enjoyed by people who contracted the virus, and stressed that some were infected again.

“Most people infected with the virus develop an immune response in the first few weeks, but we do not know if this response is strong or long-lasting, or if it differs from one person to another,” he explained.

He stressed that the concept of herd immunity is used in vaccination campaigns and recalled that for smallpox it is required that 95% of the population be vaccinated so that the remaining 5% is protected. For polio the rate is 80%.

The head of the WHO acknowledged that “there have been discussions about the concept of achieving a supposed herd immunity allowing the virus to spread.”